Gregor and the Plight of Flesh
by Ares Is Awesome
Summary: It's been two years since Gregor has been to the Underland, and he is startled at what he finds. The Prophecy of Flesh is in full effect, and the Underlanders are under siege from a terrifying enemy Gregor hoped never to come across again. Sequel to SoS.
1. In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3

**PART I**

**THE PLIGHT **

* * *

Enough. _Enough! _Gregor was sick and tired of Virginia. This was even worse than it had been two and a half years ago, when he'd sneaked out in the middle of the night with Lizzie to go back to the Underland. Being back then was like waking up from a coma, being alive after being on stand-by for a few years. But now? It was as though someone had knocked him back into stand-by after only a taste of what life was like. Very unfair. 

After his early-morning getaway last year, Gregor's parents took his car away for a month. He didn't care, though. What good was a car if you had no friends to drive to the movies in it? What good was a car when the only girl you'd want to impress traveled by giant bat? It didn't matter.

That was over, he'd gotten his green rust bucket back. His parents told him to "be normal". What was normal, anyway? Certainly not them. Certainly not Gregor.

With a sigh, he got up for school. It had been interesting, going to school again after all that had happened to him. He couldn't go one day without completely spacing out because a memory had been triggered. For example, yesterday someone mentioned the popcorn shrimp the school was serving for lunch, and he had all together stopped moving and closed his eyes, thinking of the sardonic rat, Ripred, and his favorite dish. Shrimp in cream sauce, popcorn shrimp. Those were two completely different foods, yet the mention of the word "shrimp" made two of his three "friends" look at him like he was completely bizarre. Which he was.

The only "friend" who didn't think he was crazy was Jarod, a talkative, conceded kid who got on almost everyone's nerves. Including Gregor's. But since Gregor had confided his secret in him, Jarod lightened up a bit. He bragged less, and was significantly less rude, though still was not Gregor's favorite person in the world. In the Overland, maybe he made the top ten. But most definitely not even in the top fifty in the world, if other species and dead people counted.

Dragging himself out of bed, he stopped to examine his body before putting a shirt on. He traced the collection of scars on his arms and torso with his fingers. Each one held a different story for the most part. A few spoke out in groups.

The squid sucker marks had faded significantly, though not enough to wear short sleeves. The pair of twisted lines from the vines in the jungle were all but invisible now. Various thinner scars marked where gnawers and cutters he'd fought found their way through his defenses. Gregor would almost be able to wear a wider variety of clothes, instead of his eternal long sleeve-long pants garb.

But there were still the five Bane claw marks, which hadn't gone down at all since the day he'd gotten them. That would be kind of hard to speak for. Plus, there was also the newest addition to the family, the small slice on his side where the other rager had cut him two years ago. It was different from his other scars, ink black in color, and whenever he prodded it, he'd feel a wave of sadness, depression, even anger sometimes wash over him. Finally pulling a shirt on, he went to get some breakfast in the kitchen. He was finishing up his senior year of high school, and would be graduating in two months. _He'd be able to return to the Underland for good in two months! _Somehow, it seemed too long of a wait.

Gregor was the only one awake this early in the morning, since he drove himself to school nobody needed to give him a ride. After quietly putting some bread in the toaster, he went back in to his room to feed his pet rat, which he'd go as a Christmas present from Lizzie two years ago. He'd named the gray rat Ripred, even though he was significantly less scarred than his namesake. The little rat actually seemed like Ripred. He would snort and make scowling faces whenever Gregor spoke aloud about the prophecies, and squeaked excitedly the one time he'd been given a piece of shrimp. Gregor sometimes wondered if this rat was a rager, too.

Heading back to the kitchen, he grabbed his toast to eat on the ride to school. It was twenty minutes away, and there were plenty of red lights once he got in to the city. He got in to his car, and started up the green bucket of bolts, driving off of their farm. But after two minutes of heading east to school, Gregor made a U-turn. He was going home to leave a note, and then drive to New York City.

At home, he grabbed a pencil and the nearest piece of scrap paper. It happened to be a report he'd done on bats a few weeks ago. He had gotten an "A" on it; it would have been hard for him to fail, even though it was painful to think about the fliers back in the Underland. He began to write.

_Mom and Dad,_

_Please don't freak out. You'll know where I am if you just think for a second._

He didn't mention the Underland, just in case it somehow fell into the wrong hands. Gregor was a bit paranoid about that.

_I'll be home in a few weeks, maybe in a month. Don't come after me this time._

_Love,_

_Gregor_

_p.s. Lizzie: I'll feed Ripred if you feed Ripred._

He erased the last bit, deciding to bring his pet with him. In it's place he wrote,

_p.s. Lizzie: I'll tell Ripred you said "hi"._

He read it over once, and finding it sufficient, he set it down and grabbed his rat, who was sleeping. Little Ripred squealed in surprise, but almost immediately went back to his nap. Changing his mind again, he set the rat, who was angry with the multiple interruptions to his nap, back in the cage. Gregor then quickly dashed out the door, partly in excitement, partly because he was afraid he'd be caught by his parents of one of them were to wake up.

He thought he heard their front door slam as he peeled away from their farm. In his rear-view mirror he saw that it was nobody, though. False alarm.

Gregor ran through his schedule and munched down on his toast while he waited at a red light, just to see what he'd miss this week. His second ever fencing competition was this weekend. That was about it. He'd taken fencing up on Ripred's suggestion. It was the perfect sport for him, requiring a long-sleeve long-pant suit for the uniform. Plus, as a rager, he dominated everyone in under three seconds. It also allowed him a safe way to practice controlling his rager side. He'd won three hundred dollars at his first tournament, too, which was good.

The light turned green, signaling Gregor to go. He soon was on the highway, heading a mile a minute toward the Underland. It would still be a long way. He flipped on some music. It was the middle of the song _Your Guardian Angel _by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. It reminded him a lot of his bond. Instead of painful memories, though, he was happy at the thought of Ares. The Sword of Shadow's nightmare helped him with that. It conjured images of their bonding ceremony, even though it was not like the normal kind.

_"...I will never let you fall,_

_I'll stand up with you forever._

_I'll be there for you through it all,_

_Even if saving you sends me to heaven..."_

Saving Gregor had killed Ares...and the bat was there for him through it all, never letting Gregor fall. The words fit perfectly. Small tremors wracked Gregor, who had driven over the wake-up strips on the side of the road, bringing his attention back to driving.

* * *

A huge green sign reading "New York City 14 miles" hung above the highway. He'd be in the Underland in under an hour! With a deep breath, Gregor laughed. He couldn't help smiling when he knew he was this close to everybody...

* * *

**Disclaimer: The Underland Chronicles? Not mine. And the characters from them? Same. Talk to Suzanne about those. But the ones I made up? Yeah. They're mine. Not yours. Or anyone else's.  
**

**Other Disclaimer: The lyrics to the song _Your Guardian Angel _and all that stuff relating to it belong to Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.**

**Note: Thanks to all who read and reviewed my first story, Gregor and the Sword of Shadow. This is the sequel to it.**


	2. Welcome Home

Starting at the entrance of Central Park, it took all of Gregor's self-control to not break off into a mad sprint for the stone. He casually strolled as fast as he could with out attracting attention to himself. But he ended up the center of attention, anyway. A horse-pulled cart went right by him unexpectedly, causing him to leap backward in surprise. Stumbling backward, he lost his footing and fell into a random jogger.

"Geez! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" he wailed, helping the other person to their feet. They shot him a freaky look that he hoped to never receive from another being as long a he lived. He blushed and kept on walking, hoping the feeling of everyone watching him was all in his head.

The stone was in place as usual. Glancing around uneasily, fearing he was still being watched, he shifted it out of place before beginning to make his way down the steps. Nobody was there, but what did he expect? Someone to have camped out here for nearly two and a half years waiting for his return? Geez, he sure could be stupid at times.

He approached the drop off over the waterway, looking down. It was a long way to the water, Gregor knew, even if he couldn't see it. He supposed he could jump…but wouldn't it be better just to call out? Yes, there couldn't be anything wrong with calling out.

"Hello?" Gregor called out tentatively into the darkness. He was unable to see anything with his eyes, though his ears were helping him out quite a bit.

"Drop, Overlander, quickly. We will catch you." A human voice hissed at him urgently. It was familiar to Gregor, but it seemed different; hollow, full of pain and loss.

"Drop, Gregor," it insisted.

Gregor felt he had no choice but to obey. Dropping into the darkness, he was indeed caught by a flier. Although, even with his echolocation he could not make out the coat color and pattern of the bat, but by the size it was probably female. A flier and its bond had been in the area and picked him up! What were the odds of that? Grinning broadly, he clicked for echolocation to see if he knew who had taken him.

But his smile quickly faded. He did indeed recognize his rescuer, and was very happy to see him. The one thing that made him uncomfortable, though, was the thin gold band encompassing his head.


	3. 33

"Howard?" Gregor asked. "You're the king?" 

The Underlander nodded sadly.

"Yes, there has been much death here in your absence. The Prophecy of Flesh…" Howard's weary voice trailed off.

The words hit Gregor like a blow to the stomach. The Prophecy of Flesh.

The king sighed, and brought a fist up to his eyes to wipe away a tear. But when he spoke, his voice was slow and steady.

"There has been an army of mites scouring the land. They attack any warmblood, cleaning flesh from bone. We first were notified of their presence when a chewed up scout found two skeletons; one medium sized flier with one five-foot six human female with a gold band around her head."

By this point, Howard had completely broken down, and had begun to sob. Gregor realized that while talking of his cousin's death may be a hard subject for Howard, it was made even more difficult by the fact that Howard's bond, Pandora, was eaten by similar mites over the waterway. 

Gregor's own initial reaction was shock. Luxa was dead? How could that be? She couldn't be dead. She couldn't have died because—

Because what? Because he loved her? Because she was queen? Because he didn't get to say goodbye forever? Because he wanted it to not be true so badly that it couldn't be? Face it, Gregor, there's no reason that she can't be dead.

With this realization, tears started to make their way down Gregor's cheeks, too.

"How long ago was this?" he asked, tears coursing down his face.

Between sobs, Howard managed to choke out, "Three months."

"We are forming a mission to stop the mites," a steadier, though still slightly wavering voice Gregor recognized as Nike's came from underneath them. He'd completely forgotten about her. "The prophecy, remember you how it goes?"

How do you forget something like that? Gregor recited them perfectly in his memory, though he'd only read them twice.

_Instant death is you upon._

_In ten seconds, light is gone._

_Underlanders, no time to moan,_

_As flesh is eaten from the bone._

_  
-_

_  
Ruler, she of royal birth,_

_Enemy, they know her worth._

_Removed now, cannot fight back,_

_To understand, know what you lack._

_  
-_

_  
If Underlanders do survive,_

_Seek out now, all those who thrive._

_Forget the diplomatic try,_

_Action will not let you die._

_  
-_

_  
Caution, all is not as seems._

_Sometimes truth is in the dreams._

_Give up hope, and all is lost._

_At the royal family's cost._

"Yes." Gregor's voice was quiet and somber. He could feel himself paling, and felt a bit lightheaded. He buried his hands in Nike's fur to steady himself, rocking side to side dizzily. The words finally had an effect in Gregor's mind, they had meaning. He thought he was going to black out, but managed to hold onto consciousness and recover. 


	4. No World For Tomorrow

"Are you well, Overlander?" Nike's concerned voice came from beneath them. Was he well? His favorite place on earth was being ravaged by mites, the girl he loves and her bond were dead, and his friends were all either dead or would be soon.

"I'm fine," Gregor lied.

"That is...good." Howard gave him a weak smile that he was able to detect with his echolocation. This whole ordeal must be really tough on Howard. In order for him to reign, so many people that he loved needed to have died. At least Luxa and Nerissa, plus York and Susannah, Howard's parents. More people, if other families had been given the throne first. A lot of regular people would have died, too. His newly-inherited kingdom would be crumbling, people dying by a nearly indestructible force. It was a wonder he was even appearing as well held-together as he did.

"That has to be really stressful for you, Howard."

The king nodded. "Yes, it is not doing much for my sanity." He sighed. "Three and a half months ago. That was the last time I was happy. Before the plight. Anyhow, Ripred has just arrived here in Regalia with a few ideas as to how we can stop the mites, and why they do this. As you may guess, he is not much helping my sanity, either."

As they went to land, Gregor noticed the High hall had a big, waterproof-looking piece of material stretched over the top, and all the entrances.

"In case the mites attack us here. We have moved all the people into the palace, like during the war," Howard explained without being asked. "Unfortunately, the spinners have stopped sending us this treated silk, so it cannot be used for protective clothing, as this is the place of greatest need."

After passing through a series of rooms with flaps and zippers of the same material, they entered the palace, where they were met by Ripred. The rat appeared much more serious than ever before; his brow seeming somewhat furrowed.

"Oh, hello there, rager boy. So you finally decided to show up." Ripred greeted him with a quick scowl, which Gregor returned halfheartedly, before the rat turned back to Mareth and another human that he was talking to. Gregor caught a few words every here and there, like "mites", "cutters", and "siege". The rat then addressed Howard, who had come in on the conversation.

"We think the mites have allied themselves with the cutters, who offer them feasts of flesh, along with nesting lands, in return for helping them get rid of the gnawers, humans, fliers, nibblers, and diggers. We should send a party into the cutter lands, see what they can find out. I will be going." Turning to Gregor, Ripred asked, "Will you be joining us?"

Gregor pretended to think it over, though he'd already made up his mind. "Who's going?" he asked.

"Myself, of course, plus His Highness and the Halflander boy, along with several crawlers and two other gnawers, Tearthroat and Darkdrub. The fewer there are of us, the less likely we are to be eaten. We also won't be taking fliers on this one, as they make too easy a target for mites, and there is little room for them in the cutter lands," Ripred answered him, surprisingly not sarcastically. The threat of mites had made him alert and serious, like he had been during the war, though he was still as snappy as ever.

"I'm coming," he announced. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as you're ready, boy. You should change and bathe first, though." After pausing and taking a sniff, Ripred observed, "You smell a bit like rat."

Gregor didn't expect to hear this. "Oh. That would be Ripred."

"I beg your pardon?" The rat looked confused and slightly offended.

"Ripred's my pet rat. Lizzie gave him to me for Christmas."

Ripred was seemingly unsure of how to reply to this. Gregor could see the sarcastic side of the rat want to say something rude, but the Lizzie-loving side want to be polite. Rudeness won over.

"I am flattered." So much sarcasm dripped from his voice that it almost sounded like the rat was drowning. "Quite honestly, it's the greatest honor I've ever been given, and that includes the whole 'Peacemaker' thing."

Gregor scowled. "Shut up, Ripred," he hissed. He was in no mood to deal with this, and just stalked off to bathe and change. He was in such a good mood this morning, before Howard caught him. Now... now he had the news of Luxa's death to deal with. He was taking it almost too well. Maybe it was like the Prophecy of Time; it would hit him later. Then he'd go numb.

---

He was right. Gregor was bathing when it did. He was thinking about his first trip down here, meeting the Underlanders, escaping to the rats. Gregor smiled a bit remembering when Boots had poked Luxa in the eye in the arena. That was when it hit him...hard. He'd never see her again.

Tears resumed the stream down his cheeks they had made earlier that day, his breath came in short, irregular gulps past a lump in his throat. The room spun in circles, and had he not been sitting down, he would have definitely toppled over.

_No! _he shouted in his head. _No, no, no! Why her? No! Why?_

Gregor got one more gulp of air in before he pulled himself underwater. Maybe, just maybe, the physical strain on his body would ease the ache in his heart. It was a stupid idea, but it was worth a shot. Gregor just sat on the bottom of the bath, lungs burning, for an indefinite amount of time. How long had it been? Ten seconds? Twenty? A minute? Two? He didn't care, he couldn't deal with anything but the pain right now. It clouded his mind of everything he didn't want to think of, kept his thoughts focused away from Luxa. Black flashed over his vision, a light flashed in front of his eyes, as he ran out of air, and consciousness. Involuntarily, he inhaled. He tried to, at least, causing water to rush into his mouth and lungs. He struggled for the surface, but the water pushed against him, forcing him to stay down.

He might have drowned himself, intentionally or not, if a firm pair of hands hadn't seized him from the pool. He came up, coughing and sputtering, gasping for air. After clearing all the water from his breathing way, he took several deep, full breaths, causing his whole body to shudder. Someone draped a towel over his shoulders, and put a hand on his back. Gregor wrapped the towel around his waist and looked up to see Hazard, who now stood a full head taller than him, bright green eyes meeting his own.

"Thanks," Gregor breathed, looking gratefully at the thirteen-year-old.

"Do not mention it," Hazard told him modestly.

They were silent for a moment while Gregor caught his breath, before asking, "How did you know I'd do that?"

"It is what Howard tried. I figured you might attempt the same." The Halflander shrugged, as though it were no big deal. He had the most frank and simple way of stating everything from a completely neutral perspective, making Gregor hope that nobody ever had to have Hazard tell them bad news.

Changing the subject, Gregor asked, "So you're coming with us for the quest?"

Hazard nodded. "I will be able to communicate with almost anything we encounter," he said proudly.

This time, Gregor nodded. Hazard's language skills would definitely come in handy on this trip. The boy knew just about every major language here in the Underland, from Gnawer to Cutter. Also, having grown up in the jungle, Hazard knew lots of useful information that was not common knowledge in Regalia, like the Marks of Secret, or the term for "humans" in other tongues.

Hazard handed Gregor some Underland clothes before leaving the room to let him change. On his way out, he informed Gregor that the quest would be leaving in an hour, if he was ready. Gregor changed and made his way to the High Hall, where the journey would begin.


	5. Junesong Provision

"Well look who decided to finally show up." Ripred was slumped lazily against one wall, glaring at Gregor and Hazard, who had just entered the hall. Howard stood next to the rat, a pack slung over one shoulder and a lantern on a pole in the opposite hand. Gregor noticed that instead of the usual Underland sandals, the king wore a pair of boot-looking shoes that appeared to be made out of some kind of leather. He gestured to two packs by his feet, each with a pair of similar boots and lanterns next to them, presumably for Hazard and Gregor.

"They will provide more protection for your feet, as the ground is hazardous where we travel," Howard explained, as though he knew what Gregor was about to ask. Gregor immediately put them on, finding them to be a bit big. Hazard offered his, which were too small for his feet.

"Aren't we going with some other gnawers and some crawlers?" Gregor asked, slipping on the boots Hazard had given him, and finding them to fit much better.

"Yes, we are," Ripred started exasperatedly, as though it should be obvious, "but we are meeting them in their own lands. The less Tearthroat and Darkdrub travel, the less likely they are to be eaten by mites. As for the crawlers, we meet them to save time and energy. I guarantee you, boy, that by the time we finish, walking from here to the crawler lands would be torture to you."

Gregor just rolled his eyes, annoyed that Ripred still called him "boy". It would be a long trip if the other rats were anything like Ripred, and Gregor did not feel like dealing with cynicism right then.

"We will be flown to the river in several moments, and will be walking along there as a safety precaution, should we be swarmed by mites. A boat would attract too much attention," Howard said quickly, cutting any potential argument short. But the time until two fliers came to take them to the river was spent entirely in awkward silence.

The fliers that took them to the river didn't say anything, either, just dropped them off and hurriedly fluttered back to the palace, looking shaken. The flight here chilled Gregor, too. No one had been outside. The streets of the stone city had been abandoned, the crops had all been destroyed. No lights shone in the city except for in the palace. The once-great city was abandoned, in ruin. Gregor was surprised to find a single tear slip down his cheek in mourning for the city.

Everything here was just so awful now. The Underland was a much different place that it was the last time he'd been here. The city was desolate, everyone feared to even leave the palace, the population had been more than halved. And Luxa was dead. That was that.

Gregor decided that if he were to make it through this quest, he'd need to put it all in the back of his mind. It was what he'd tried to do during his time in the Overland, anyway. Just forget about it during the day, deal with it at night. There was no night or day here, so he'd have to be numb always. Numb. It seemed as though numb was how he thrived. He'd spent what seemed like his whole life being numb, void of emotions. It wouldn't be a challenge to keep it up down here.

"If we start now, we shall reach the crawlers within several hours. They have agreed to allow us to ride them for the majority of the trip, except for the gnawers, of course," Howard announced, breaking the solemn silence. Gregor nodded glumly, shouldering his pack and beginning the trek to the crawlers. No one said anything for the longest time, before Gregor finally spoke up.

"So what's in these packs?" he asked Howard, who was glancing around uneasily at the shadows cast by the lanterns.

"Ah." Howard seemed relieved to speak, though he kept his voice low. Gregor guessed this was to avoid attracting any mites. "There is a spare set of clothes, two days worth of spare water, some dried jerky, fuel for the lanterns, a blanket in each. My first aid kit is in mine, and I put some of that gray sticking strip in yours. I figured you would not need a light stick, as you can echolocate."

"Great, Howard." Gregor tried to sound a bit enthusiastic, but it turned out badly. "But why do we only have food and water for a few days?"

"We will be repacking when we reach the gnawer lands, as there is no need to carry two weeks worth of water for longer than necessary. The crawlers will help with carrying the supplies."

For some reason this annoyed Gregor. "So they're hired pack mules?" he asked, feeling somewhat enraged.

"No, Gregor, they sent a scout offering assistance. They are allied to us, and are angered at the cutters for the utilization of mites for siege. The three that meet us volunteered."

This made Gregor feel better. He hated how everyone treated the roaches like dirt, or used to at least. He hadn't seen any crawlers since the War of Time, actually, and he didn't know how they'd been treated with the recent mite attacks.Gregor considered the roaches to be his friends, actually, though he figured the main reason they hung around with him was because of Boots. The roaches practically worshiped his little sister. Actually, they had on their first trip down here. They'd done some freaky sacred "Ring Dance" for her that supposedly had only been performed for Sandwich before.

Just then, a thought dawned on Gregor.

"Should we have all the lanterns burning? Won't it waste fuel or attract mites or something?" Bugs seemed to be attracted to lights, so would these mites be any different?

"The smoke repels the mites to a degree, but we will douse them as we near the cutter territory. Any being there would see the light they cast." Howard explained.

Suddenly, Ripred stopped, sniffing.

"The crawlers are nearby, no more than a five minute walk up this river," he announced, "but they're on the other side. We'll need to cross somewhere."


	6. The Road and the Damned

**Note: Yep, it's been nearly a month since I updated this. Sorry. It's been hard for me to write because (insert excuse here). I'll be updating sooner than the last update, I hope. It would be bad if I didn't. Sorry again.**

**AIA**

* * *

Ripred was right. In about four and a half minutes, a light on the other side of the river highlighting the presence of the three crawlers that would be joining them. 

"Cross you here, cross you?" one shouted over the water noise. Its voice sounded a bit dry and raspy, as all crawler voices did. It was lower than some of the crawlers Gregor had heard; it was a bit lower than Tick or Min, closer to Temp's hiss.

Howard shouted back that they would, since it was one of the narrowest part of the river, at only eleven feet across. Ripred could easily clear it jumping, but it would be a challenge for the humans. Ripred started formulating a plan out loud, or maybe it had been in his head and he was just voicing it. After muttering to himself for a few seconds, he started giving orders.

"I'll cross first. You three will then toss your packs across the river, and I'll do my best to catch them with my tail should they fall short. After that, Hazard will jump as far as he can, but slightly upstream so you won't float past if you need to swim the rest of the way. His Highness will then follow in the same manner, and then you, Overlander. Does that work?"

"This is fine, Ripred," Howard told him, "but what of the lanterns?"

The gnawer seemed to think for a moment. "Leave them until the Overlander is the only one left on this side." The rat turned to Gregor. "You are going to toss them into the river as close to the bank as you can, but slightly upstream. We'll fish them out, and then you can jump. Think you can handle that?"

Gregor nodded in annoyance that Ripred still could make him feel worthless without trying to. He glared at the rat but said nothing.

"Good." The rat backed up a few steps, before sprinting full speed for the river. He leaped at the last possible moment, clearing the river with ease.

"Throw you packs now!" he called. Howard and Hazard removed the packs from their shoulders and tossed them across the river. Howard's landed a good six feet from the bank, skilling half of a foot to a stop on the stone. Hazard's, however, was much closer to Ripred, and would have hit the rat in the head, had he not ducked. Stifling some half-hearted laughter, Gregor took off his pack and followed suit, lobbing it over the river, where it landed on the opposite bank about two feet from Howard's.

Hazard backed up a few paces, took a deep breath, before sprinting forward and vaulting across the river and landing neatly on the opposite bank. It became apparent to Gregor that, even without being trained in combat, Hazard was growing to be strong like his father, Hamnet. The Halflander stood up and brushed his hair out of his eyes, then signaled that he was okay and it was Howard's turn to jump with a thumbs-up.

Howard cleared the river with almost as much ease as his cousin, though it was becoming apparent that Hazard would soon surpass both of them in physical dominance, though he was only thirteen. The two men got on their stomachs at the edge of the river,then waved for Gregor to toss the lanterns across. Ripred positioned himself farther downstream so that he could snag one that got by if need be.

Gregor picked up the first lantern and swung it gently back and forth. He couldn't help but notice that his hands were shaking slightly as he prepared to toss it. Why couldn't he steady them? He'd gotten good rest and wasn't sick or hungry, so what could it be? He suddenly felt a bit sick to his stomach. He knew what it was. Gregor tried to shake away the mental images that were forming in his head. Cruelly, his brain had decided to combine the memories of Pandora, Howard's old bond, dying, and the former queen of Regalia, creating a horror show in Gregor's head of a black cloud of mites bearing down on Luxa, who was writhing and screaming as she was eaten down to bone.

Gregor set the lantern down on the ground, rubbing his eyes furiously, trying desperately to get the image out of his mind. He just couldn't think about that. Not now, not ever. Most specifically not now; he needed to focus. But his mind couldn't move from the short scene that kept repeating in his head.

"Gregor?" Howard's voice, though drowned out a great deal by the river, was full of obvious concern. Gregor looked around, aware of his surroundings once more. He was bent over on the ground, in obvious distress. But he didn't need anyone else to worry about him.

"I'm fine," he called out, getting to his feet once more. He picked the lantern back up, tossing it over to the other bank, slightly upstream, as Ripred had specified. The fire inside hissed and sputtered out upon contact with the water, creating a great deal of steam and bubbles. It was fished from the fiver by Howard, who pulled it out before immediately showing it to Ripred, who seemed frustrated.

"Can you extinguish it and throw it through the air?" Howard shouted to him over the roar of the river. Gregor couldn't imagine what could have gone wrong with Ripred's original plan, but something obviously wasn't working accordingly. Gregor opened the metal framed hatch to the fire inside, licked his fingers, and smothered the flame on the wick. Closing the hatch, he carefully tossed it to Howard, who caught it with ease on the other side of the river. He waited until Howard had the other one lit before extinguishing the last lantern, since while Gregor could rely on echolocation, Howard and Hazard needed the lamp to see.

When a small light sprung up on the opposite bank, Gregor doused the last remaining lantern in the same manner as the other. However, Gregor's leg got in the way of the throw, causing the lantern to sail off course. It couldn't gain enough altitude, and ended up almost shattering on the riverbank by everyone's legs on the other side. Fortunately, Hazard managed to save it from breaking. Though it was pretty hard to see, Gregor could still tell that Ripred was scowling at him from across the river.

Howard hastily lit up the second lantern while Gregor pushed a rock around with the toes of his boots. After being given the signal to jump, Gregor took a few steps in a run to leap across to the other side. However, when he got to the edge of his side of the river, he slipped on a smooth, wet stone. His leg flew out from under him, throwing him completely off balance. With all the momentum he had going for the jump, there was no stopping Gregor as he tumbled into the river.


End file.
